A New Life: Chapter 4: A Return to Grace
by betterthings89
Summary: This saga is about the lives of the children of Lilly&Oliver and their friends children too. This chapter is about several changes in their lives, big and small. Please leave reviews!


_*NOTE: This is the fourth chapter of my new saga "A New Life". If you haven't read my first saga you may not know where these characters are coming from. So you might want to read it, or at least "Meant to Be Parts 5-9". This story takes place 5 years before the end of "Meant To Be"_

_*If you want to find my other stories (My first saga) click on my screen name on the top of this page, and you can find my stories on my profile. If you want to stay updated as to when I post new chapters, please subscribe to my username!!_

_*Anyway, I hope you like this! __**Please leave reviews**__!_

**A New Life**

**-Chapter 4: A Return to Grace-**

It was very early in the morning in Malibu, and Jimmy Oken was running down the beach. He was now doing this on a regular basis. It had become something he did without even really thinking about it. It had been almost three months since the confrontation he had had with Andy Corelli. Since then he had been working out and running hard on a regular basis. Suffice it to say he was very close to no longer being that pudgy, long haired guy that got into fights over silly things. He had managed to stay out of trouble ever since then. And because of the drastic increase he had made in the level of exercise he got, he had slimmed down considerably. And he was becoming fairly well muscled. He had managed to keep his hair at the same exceptionally short length. He liked the difference and had decided to make the change permanent along with the other changes he had recently made in his life.

He was running faster today because he was looking forward to meeting up with his two best friends Sam and Alice. He especially wanted to see Alice. This was because over the last few months he had gotten to thinking that maybe he did in fact have some feelings for Alice. Maybe that kiss had meant something after all. He was starting to realize that he did in fact think that she was cute. And she was still acting like she might have a thing for him, even though she had kept up her part of their agreement by not mentioning her thoughts about him anymore.

"Hey Jimmy, over here, man!" Sam shouted from behind him. Jimmy jogged over to his two best friends. They had decided to go hang out at the mall. They where there for a while, but they didn't really see anything they wanted. So they just hung out for a while. They sat down at a table to talk. But after a while Jimmy's mind began to wander. Thoughts of Alice, who was right there, floated through his mind. Thoughts of his brother Michael and how he was more or less back to normal as far as his personality crossed his mind.

During the course of the time where he was zoned out he hadn't realized it but he had started singing out loud. He didn't know what he was singing because he was lost in thought and didn't even realize that he was singing.

"_I'm counting the days since I began to live without you. I'm covered in rain but it feels just like it's the sun. And it don't get me down. Don't come around. You're better off leavin' town. I'm fine here alone now without you. Hey! I'm screamin' at you. Hey! Don't care enough to write you a letter now that I'm doin' better alone. Hey! I'm screamin'…" _Jimmy sang.

"Hey! Jimmy snap out of it. Hello?!" Sam shouted, snapping his finger in front of Jimmy's face, bringing him out of his own head. "What? What happened?" Jimmy asked. "You zoned out and you where singing." Sam told him. "What are you talking about? What was I singing?" Jimmy asked. "I'm not sure. It sounded familiar. There was one lyric that kept repeating, 'Hey!'" Sam said. "Oh! That was a song my dad used to sing called 'Hey', I don't know where he heard it from." Jimmy said.

"You know you have a great singing voice Jimmy. That sounded amazing." Alice said. Jimmy rolled his eyes in disbelief. "No. It's true. That sounded great." Sam said. "Ok. I'll take you word for. I only wish I'd heard myself singing, cause I have no idea what I sound like. Oh well. What time is it?" Jimmy said. He pulled out his video phone and checked the time. "Oh. I gotta go in about an hour. Rose and I are going to take Michael down to the beach. If you guys wanna come with us you can." Jimmy said.

"Ok." Sam said. "Ok, it sounds like fun." Alice said. When they were done at the mall they headed for Jimmy's house. When they got there Rose and Michael where in the living room waiting for him. Michael was on the couch and needed to be helped into his wheelchair to get him to the beach. He was already dressed for it, and so was Rose. So Jimmy ran upstairs and changed into his beach clothes and grabbed his wetsuit, which now fit a little looser due to his new thinner physique. He ran down the stairs and sat down with everybody.

"So Michael, Rose… You guys ready to go?" Jimmy asked. They both indicated that they were ready. So Jimmy and Rose prepared to hoist Michael into the wheelchair. Jimmy figured that pretty soon he would be able to do it all on his own without any help, what with all the working out he had been doing, he was becoming quite strong. But for now he needed Roses' assistance to get Michael into his wheelchair. So Jimmy got Michael to put his arms around his shoulders. And Rose placed her arms under the knee joints on the back of Michaels limp legs. They both lifted him into his chair. Then they got everything together to go to the beach. Jimmy began rolling his brother out the front door.

They couldn't take Michael's wheelchair onto the beach so they had to leave it chained to a bench just off of where the pavement ended and the sand started. They had to carry him down to the beach from there. So they again hoisted him up. But this time Rose took his arms and Jimmy took his legs. They got half way down to where they wanted to set up their things when Michael said "Hey. Jimmy don't stick your fingers under my leg like that, use your arm." He said. "Why? What's wrong with the way I'm doing it?" Jimmy asked. "When you put your fingers under my legs like that, it tickles." Michael said. Jimmy gave him a look, but still moved his arms under the joints of Michael's legs. Of course he could really feel a tickle; he couldn't feel anything in his legs. Michael was just being cheeky. But Michael smiled sweetly to thank him.

When they got to where they wanted to be Alice laid out a towel for them and a beach chair that they had rented. Jimmy and Rose placed their brother on it, in a sitting up position. He put his hand on his right leg for a second and then started talking to Sam.

"I'm gonna go change into my wetsuit." Jimmy told them. "Why can't you do it right here?" Alice asked. Jimmy mumbled something under his breath and then walked down the beach with his wetsuit in hand. He stopped when he was sure he was out of sight of all of them. The truth was he could have changed into his wetsuit in front of them; there was no southern exposure involved. But he was still a little overly conscious about his possible feelings for Alice. And even though he was considerably slimmer and slightly more muscular than he had been the last time he'd gone to the beach with Alice and Sam, this time he wasn't sure how comfortable he would be if Alice saw him with his shirt off. It was one of those things he just couldn't explain. When he was changed he headed back over to them. He stuck his shirt in their beach bag.

The others had done their changing while he was gone. Rose and Alice had changed ahead of time. And Michael had changed with the help of his father Oliver, before they left. Jimmy went out to the water. He had told Michael that he would show him some of the cool surfing skills he'd taught himself. So he made his way out into the water and got up on his surf board and road across a particularly large wave. After a while he returned to their spot on the beach and they hung out for a while.

"So, Michael how's it going lately? It must be rough having to have people carry you or push you around every time you wanna go somewhere." Sam said. "I'm doing alright. I've kinda gotten used to the chair and being carried and stuff. But, yeah, it's still a little hard to have to ask people to do that every time I need to do something." Michael said.

"Michael, you wanna go down to the water?" Jimmy asked him. "Sure, but not too close." Michael said, reminding them that if the tide got too high he couldn't get out of the way. So Jimmy and Rose carried him down to where the edge of the tide was hitting the sand. They pounded out a pile of sand so Michael could sit up. Then the laid him up against it. "Thanks you guys." Michael said, with a smile. "We've been here for a couple of hours, so we're not gonna stay that much longer Michael, it's almost four." Jimmy told him. "Just a little bit longer, I like the way the foam and the water feel on my feet." Michael said. "You can't feel the water on your feet little bro." Jimmy said. Michael looked up at him. "I know, but I like to pretend I can. I try to remember what it felt like and then it almost seems like I can still feel it." Michael said. "Sounds like a good way to look at things." Rose said. Indeed, Michael had found more optimistic ways to look at things that where now limited by his disability.

"Michael if we get you home now, and get you changed, you can go over to see Susan and Robbie before dinner." Rose told him. "Ok, let's go!" Michael said, enthusiastically. So they carried him up off the beach towards his wheelchair. He winced a little when Rose put her hand under one of his legs. "You're a cheeky little boy aren't you Michael?" Rose said, because he was pretending to feel her fingers when he saw them under his leg. He smiled playfully down at her.

Michael arrived over at Susan's house and Jimmy left him with Miley. "Michael you are so lucky to have a big brother and sister that care about you so much. I wish my older brother had been like that." Miley said. Jackson was a more sensitive brother to Miley now. But it had taken years, and he wasn't that way as a young child and not so much as a teenager either.

Miley wheeled him out onto the deck. Susan and Robbie where already out there. So Miley hoisted Michael down off the deck and onto a chair in the back yard. "You guys have fun. Not too much fun though." Miley said. She went back inside.

Michael was excited to get to hang out with his friends even though he could no longer do what they were used to doing together. He had been over to see his two best friends a lot since he had gotten out of his sad slump. But this had been the first time he'd been in Susan's backyard since his accident.

"So it must be kinda weird seeing the place where you know…" Robbie trailed off awkwardly. He was referring to the monkey bars that where across the yard. That had been the place he had fallen from and become paralyzed. "Robbie! Be quiet!" Susan scolded her cousin. "No, it's ok. I don't mind. It is a little weird but really it doesn't bother me that much. That's where it happened. I'm not gonna let that bother me." Michael said smartly.

"So did you have fun at the beach today?" asked Susan. "Yeah. I keep trying to imagine what the sand feels like under my feet. But I can't walk and I can't feel anything with my feet, so I just have to imagine." Michael said. "Can't you just… you know… run your hands through the sand?" Robbie asked. "Yeah, sorta, but it's not the same thing. But I'm okay with it." Michael said. "Is it getting any less weird having Rose and Jimmy or your parents carry you places?" Susan asked him. "I guess so. I was used to doing it myself before the accident. So having to have other people help me is kinda weird. But oh, well, it's not that bad." Michael said. They had been having such a good time just talking that before they knew it an hour had gone by. Miley came out and said "Michael, time for you to go home." Miley said.

Miley got him into his chair and brought him next door to the Oken house. "He was great. Susan and Robbie are looking forward to seeing him tomorrow afternoon." Miley said, and then she left.

When he got in, Jimmy's friend Sam was on his way out to go home. "See ya Jimmy!" Sam said. Then Alice got up to leave and Jimmy said something to her that Michael couldn't hear. "Hey dad I'm gonna walk Alice home, okay?" Jimmy asked. "Don't be too long." Oliver told him. Jimmy had been in the habit of telling his brother stories before he went to sleep. Even though Michael was eight he still liked it. And it was a good chance for Jimmy to exercise his creative muscles.

Jimmy walked Alice outside. And as soon as they were out of site of the house he spoke up. "I've been thinking about what you said about having feelings for each other." Jimmy said. "I thought you didn't want to talk about it." Alice said. "Well… I guess I changed my mind." Jimmy said shrugging his shoulders. "Well I still think you're cute Jimmy, maybe even cuter." Alice said shamelessly. Jimmy blushed a little. "It's pretty dark out; it's kinda spooky at night around here sometimes." Alice said. "Don't worry I'll protect you!" Jimmy said, making a tough looking face and flexing his right arm muscle. "Shut up!" Alice laughed, and smacked him in the arm.

"I think we should kiss again, Alice." Jimmy said all of a sudden. "Umm… ok? I thought you said it was too weird?" Alice asked. "Well… It is a little… but I think _I _might like you back. So I think we should kiss again." Jimmy said a little hesitantly. She turned and faced him. "Well ok, let's find out." Alice said. "Alright." Jimmy said. She put her hand on his now firmer stomach and her other hand on the muscle of his arm. This time he didn't stand perfectly still. He put his hand onto the small of her back and leaned in. They closed their eyes and locked lips. This time Jimmy didn't pull away so abruptly, he let it last a little longer to see how he felt about it. When he pulled away he knew he definitely had feelings for her. He supposed he already knew that he liked her. He was glad that this time he was sure that no one was around to catch them in the act.

"So what are you thinking now Jimmy?" Alice asked him with a slight smile on her face. "Umm, please don't tell anybody, but I do like you back." Jimmy said seriously. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." She said, giggling slightly. It embarrassed him a little bit. "It's still a little weird, maybe we should wait a little while before we do this again." Jimmy said. "Ok, maybe you're right. So what are you doing tomorrow? Maybe you and Sam and I can do something." Alice said, trying to lighten the mood. "I can't I have to go to the hospital with my family. My brother has to get another check up. But maybe I'll see you guys after that." Jimmy said. They reached Alice's house and Jimmy said "So maybe I'll see you tomorrow." She put her hand through his very short hair and let out a little "Huh." Then she turned around and headed for the front door of her house.

They parted company. Jimmy had a big smile on his face for the entire time that he walked home. He was now very sure that he liked Alice. A lot. But it was too soon to start anything he realized. There were still people that would make fun of him for it. He was glad that Alice understood that. He was also glad that she was willing to be patient. She knew that all boys didn't stop finding girls weird or at least off limits until they were close to thirteen. Jimmy wasn't one of those boys. He was a very mature boy. But some of the boys they went to school with were not. So she was willing to wait for it to become acceptable. Also she knew that twelve years old was a little too young for her to pair off with a boy.

When Jimmy got home his parents were there waiting for him. "Let's go put your brother in bed, okay Jimmy? We've got to get him up a little early tomorrow to go to the hospital." Lilly said. Tomorrow they were taking Michael to the hospital for the second of his monthly checkups having to do with his disability. Mostly they wanted to make sure he was doing alright emotionally. But they also ran tests on his legs and lower back to prevent decay.

When they got Michael into bed Jimmy began to tell him a story. Jimmy was very good at describing things so it made for good story telling. Michael was good at picturing things in his mind, so he was able to just let his mind travel to wherever the story was. Before Jimmy knew it his little brother had fallen peacefully asleep.

Jimmy looked forward to tomorrow. He did enjoy being there for his brother when they took him to the doctor but that wasn't the main reason he was excited. His mind was still filled with thoughts of what had just happened with Alice. He was excited to see her after the hospital visit.

The morning came quickly. Jimmy got out of bed quickly and pulled on some clothes. He hurried over to his brother's room where Michael was already dressed and ready to go. So Jimmy helped his father to place Michael into his wheelchair. They got him downstairs and they were all ready to go to the hospital once more.

When they got there they quickly checked in. Lilly approached the receptionist at the front desk. "I'm her with my son for his monthly checkup. His doctor is Dr. John Dorian." She said. "And what is your son's name ma'am?" the receptionist asked. "It's Michael Stanley Oken." Lilly answered. The receptionist looked at her computer. "Very well take him up to room three-twenty-three. Dr. Dorian will be with you shortly." She said.

When they got to the room a nurse helped Michael get changed into hospital clothes and then got him into a hospital bed in the room. Then the Okens filed into the room to be with Michael. About fifteen minutes later Doctor Dorian arrived in the room accompanied by another doctor. "I'm Dr. Cody Martin; I will be assisting Doctor Dorian with your exam today, Michael." Dr. Martin said.

They proceeded with the exam which ended with Dr. Martin scanning Michael's legs and his back. "We'll have the results in about a half an hour, please be patient." Dr. Dorian said. So the Okens sat there patiently, and about forty-five minutes later Dr. Dorian and Dr. Martin returned with a nurse that looked identical to Dr. Martin accept he was a little more heavyset. The nurse leaned over and wiped the joint of Michaels arm with a disinfectant wipe, and then injected something into his arm with a syringe. They talked to Michael about how he was dealing with his disability for a few minutes. He was feeling weird all of a sudden. He wasn't quite sure what it was. He didn't feel sick or anything like that. He just felt unexplainably strange.

Just then an orderly that looked like a boy that Lilly dated in high school named Lucas came by the room and handed Doctor Dorian a folder with Michael's test results. "Well these look the same as they did last month. All I can say to you is that we are very certain that you will never be able to walk again. You are definitely paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of your life." Dr. Dorian said. He sat down on the end of the bed.

"That means he'll probably never date. He'll never know what it's like to…" Lilly started to say, becoming a little teary, but Oliver cut her off. "We already know all this. So is there anything new you can tell us? Is there any of the decay that you said you where looking for?" Oliver asked the doctors. "No… it's just where we want it to be." Dr. Dorian said. Michael picked this time to interject. "You're kidding, right?" he said. "No, this isn't something to be taken lightly. We have told you already that your condition is permanent. We where under the impression that you had begun to deal with it." Dr. Dorian said, through a light amount of tears. "What would make you think I was kidding?" Dr. Dorian said through more tears. It was heartbreaking to see a kid so young have to deal with a disability and not seem to be able to accept it.

"Well if it's true what you said, then how come I can wiggle my toes?" Michael said curiously. Of course everyone knew he was kidding. He had been doing that a lot lately, probably as a way to deal with his condition. "What? What are you talking about Michael?" asked Dr. Dorian. "Look!" Michael said, exasperatedly, pointing down the bed towards his feet. Doctor Dorian stood up and pulled the sheets off of Michael's feet. "See!" Michael said. He wiggled his toes so everyone could see; he had just now realized he could do this. "Umm ok, I was not expecting that when I saw your test results." Dr. Dorian said.

"Let me try something." Dr. Dorian said. He pulled out a needle and pricked Michael's big toe. "Did you feel that?" he asked. "Yeah! I did!" Michael said excitedly. He moved the needle higher and pricked Michael's slightly shrunken leg muscle, his leg moved very slightly as a reflex, which wouldn't have happened if there was no feeling in his legs. "Did you feel that?" Dr. Dorian asked him again. "Yeah!" Michael said through a small grin, excitement building in him which was apparent from his tone of voice.

Doctor Dorian moved to Michael's other leg, and took out his reflex tester. He thumped Michael's knee with it lightly. His leg hopped slightly at the knee. "Amazing, we didn't really expect any improvement at all, I honestly thought this was going to be permanent." Dr. Dorian said. Michael gave him a look. "I mean it's great! I'm really happy for you, as I'm sure your family is." Dr. Dorian said with a smile. Michael looked over. His whole family was standing there with looks of shock and great joy.

"Alright let me see one last thing." Dr. Dorian said. He had the nurse lift Michael forward, which he was happy to know that he would soon be able to do once again on his own. Dr. Dorian opened the back of Michael's hospital gown and pricked his back with the needle, where it had been paralyzed. Michael cringed a little. "Did you feel that Michael?" asked Dr. Dorian one last time. "Owe! Yeah, that hurt a little!" Michael said, still overjoyed. They closed the gown and laid him back down. "I'd like to run a few scans to make this official, but I think you could make a full recovery." Dr. Dorian said. Everyone in the room smiled brightly.

They had another nurse come in. She and the original nurse switched Michael onto a gurney to take him out for the scans. They wheeled him out. "This should only take about a half an hour." Dr. Martin said.

Fifty minutes later they brought Michael back from the labs and moved him back onto the bed. "Pretty soon you won't need anyone's help to move around anymore. You should be back to your old self in less than a year." Dr. Dorian told him. "What kinds of things will we need to have him do to recover?" Oliver asked happily. "Judging by what we saw on these scans we can expect it to take about three months, maybe a little more or a little less, to rebuild the lost muscle from not being able to use his legs for the past three months. And probably another three months after that where he has to use crutches for some support." Dr. Martin replied.

They looked over at Michael and noticed that a very sweet and glowing smile occupied his face from ear to ear. It was apparent that his personality was very close to returning to its former state. He was becoming very cheery and incredibly friendly again, just as he had been before his accident. And the way he had been close to being now that he had had time to adjust. But his personality had just made a huge leap forward towards normalcy.

Within the next half an hour they had Michael dressed and ready to go home. He took solace (great comfort) in knowing that very soon he would be able to do that sort of thing all on his own again. He was very happy to know that very soon he would regain all that he had lost.

On the way home they asked him how he felt about the news. He smiled and laughed and told them how excited he was to be able to recover. He did make one slightly surprising revelation. "To tell the truth I think I've been having some feelings in my legs lately, and I just didn't know it." Michael said. "What do you mean, Michael?" Lilly asked him. "Well, like when you guys took me to the beach." Michael started. "Yeah. What about it?" Jimmy asked him. "Well you know how I said it tickled when you put your fingers under my leg when you where carrying me? And how I said I liked the feeling of the waves on my feet?" asked Michael. "Yeah, I guess." Rose said, looking at him strangely. "Well I thought I was kidding too. I think I kind of forgot what it was like to have feeling in my legs. But I actually was feeling those things." Michael said. "Well that's great! We're all happy for you. But remember you'll always have us all here for you when you need us." Oliver told his son.

They all nodded in agreement. Michael smiled warmly. He was happy to have such a loving family that was there to support him at any time. He was also smiling because he was excited about a couple of other things. He couldn't wait to start getting his strength back, and start walking again. But he also couldn't wait to tell everybody. He wanted to let them all know as soon as possible, especially Susan and Robbie Rod. He was back, and life was good. No… it was great!

_**Notes to the readers:**_

***Reviews are much appreciated!!**

**_I hope you enjoyed this fourth chapter of my new saga. I told you it would get brighter!_

_***Again, it might help understanding where the main characters came from if you have read "Meant to Be parts 5-9 or 8-9" or something. Although they are pretty much their own characters, so it might not be that hard to read without knowing where they came from._

_****Lilly and Oliver, and Miley and Jackson are in their thirties. Jimmy is 12. Rose is 10. Michael and Susan (Miley's daughter), and Robbie Rod (Jackson's son) are all 8._

_*****There will be more in the near future. So I hope you will continue reading._


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